Deborah Levison

Youth Education and Work in Mexico

A holistic approach to schooling in developing countries-considering schooling in conjunction with labor force work, child care, and other household responsibilities-is necessary to construct policies that will encourage greater educational attainment, especially for children and youth in poor families. Using data from the Encuesta Nacional de Empleo Urbano (ENEU), we jointly estimate the determinants of studying and working, doing both, or doing neither for 12 to 17 year-olds in urban Mexico. We consider the implications of defining work to include both labor force employment and household domestic work, in contrast to the traditional definition of market-based employment. Results based on the traditional definition indicate that girls are 13.8 percentage points more likely than boys to specialize in school, while those based on the more inclusive measure of work indicate that girls are 7.7 percentage points less likely than boys to specialize in school.

Children as Economic Agents

A generational perspective recognizes that children have preferences which may differ systematically from those of adults, and, furthermore, that a childrens standpoint should be recognized by scholars and activists and incorporated into policy targeted at children and their families. Economics has not considered children as agents because of their lack of power relative to adults. The implications of recognizing childrens agency are explored for the case of childrens paid and unpaid labor force and household work.

Declining inequality in schooling in Brazil and its effects on inequality in earnings

Abstract Household survey data demonstrate that Brazilian males born between 1925 and 1963 experienced steady increases in mean schooling and significant declines in schooling inequality. The variance in years of schooling increased for cohorts born up until 1950, with steady declines for more recent cohorts. Decomposition of a standard human capital earnings equation indicates that trends in schooling tended to reduce earnings inequality from 1976 to 1985, due to reductions in both the variance of schooling and in returns to schooling. These improvements were more than offset, however, by increases in other sources of inequality. Although the net increase in earnings inequality from 1976 to 1985 is disturbing, the reduction in schooling inequality represents a fundamental improvement in the determinants of earnings inequality in Brazil that will have beneficial effects for decades.

Women's Employment and Child Care in Brazil

This study describes and tests a theoretical model of the relationship between womens employment and child care decisions in metropolitan Brazil. Results are considered as supportive of the hypothesis that womens employment and child care are competing uses of womens time. This article provides a description of the Brazilian context and a brief literature review a theoretical framework and hypotheses estimation methods data and variables and empirical modeling. Findings indicate that maternal employment status was an important determinant of the demand for nonparental child care for young children. Child quality issues appeared to be more important factors in the choice of part-time nonparental child care than full-time nonparental care. Increased income was related to the decreased probability of womens employment but increased the probability of nonparental child care. The probability of womens employment and nonparental child care was affected by the presence of potential alternative care givers in the household. Females and particularly female teenaged relatives were more likely to serve as maternal child care substitutes in the home. Working age females were more likely to serve as labor force substitutes than younger or older females. Although the 1988 Brazilian constitution mandates free day care and preschool for all 0-6 year olds programs have not been implemented. The findings suggest a need for nonparental child care and consideration of the trade-offs that families make in substituting female teenagers as parental child care providers which jeopardizes their educational advancement.

The impact of conditional cash transfer programs on household work decisions in Brazil

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have become widespread in poor countries as a way to alleviate current poverty and provide investments in human capital that improve families’ living conditions in the long-term. The first goal is accomplished when poor families receive money from governments on a monthly basis. The second goal is reached by conditioning the cash transfers on certain behaviors such as childrens regular school attendance. However, these programs may also have impacts on time use decisions within beneficiary households, particularly with respect to time spent working. Using data from 2003, we measure the impact of the Brazilian Bolsa Escola CCT program on childrens and parents’ labor status using the econometric framework of policy evaluation. Probit regressions and propensity score-matching methods show that this program reduces the probability of work for children aged 6–15, increases school enrollment, and increases mother and father participation in the labor force.

TACKLING THE ENDOGENEITY OF FERTILITY IN THE STUDY OF WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: ALTERNATIVE ESTIMATION STRATEGIES USING DATA FROM URBAN BRAZIL

Abstract Opinions differ about whether family structure, especially fertility, should be considered endogenous in models of behavior in developing countries. Faced with a dearth of good instruments, mainstream researchers often urge working in reduced form and, therefore, losing variables of policy interest or limiting the type of questions they ask to those where good instruments are available. Rather than treating endogeneity as a yes or no characteristic, we suggest instead that researchers consider the likely magnitude of endogeneity bias before moving to reduced form. Facing a situation where endogeneity bias is often presented as a concern but where we expect little endogeneity bias, we tackle endogeneity using multiple econometric techniques not available to the average researcher. We find support for our hypothesis that little bias arises due to the assumption of exogeneity of recent fertility in a model of womens employment.

Challenges in Determining How Child Work Affects Child Health

Credible findings from well-crafted research studies are essential in assessing the impact of child work on childrens health. Researchers, however, encounter significant challenges in defining the relevant group of workers for a study and identifying an appropriate comparison group. This article describes some of those challenges and explains how choices about study and comparison groups can lead to biased research results. When selecting study groups, researchers should be aware that the impact of work on health may depend on the type and intensity of the work, and on the context in which it occurs. They should avoid drawing conclusions about the health effects of particular work situations from studies of very heterogeneous groups of workers and should not overgeneralize from studies of more homogenous groups. When choosing comparison groups, researchers should select children whose health outcomes are likely to be comparable to the outcomes working children would experience if they did not work. In particular, researchers should attempt to find children who are similar to the workers of interest on relevant non-work characteristics, including socioeconomic status and levels of parental education. In addition, they should consider the extent to which healthier children are more likely to select into the labor force as a result of decisions by parents or employers, or due to their own greater fitness. Ideally, studies of the health effects of child work should use multiple comparison groups, including children who work in relatively safe, non-strenuous occupations.

Is Policy Well-Targeted to Remedy Financial Strain among Caregivers of Severely Injured U.S. Service Members?

U.S. military service members have sustained severe injuries since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This paper aims to determine the factors associated with financial strain of their caregivers and establish whether recent federal legislation targets caregivers experiencing financial strain. In our national survey, 62.3% of caregivers depleted assets and/or accumulated debt, and 41% of working caregivers left the labor force. If a severely injured veteran needed intensive help, the primary caregiver faced odds 4.63 times higher of leaving the labor force, and used

Marking Time: An Analysis of Youth Hours of Work and Study in Urban Mexico

27,576 more in assets and/or accumulated debt compared to caregivers of veterans needing little or no assistance.

Impact of Domestic Violence on Children’s Education in Colombia Methodological Challenges

This paper argues that a more complex view of work and schooling is critical to poor countries as they implement policies to increase educational attainment. In this analysis of 12-17-year-old girls and boys in urban Mexico, we expand the traditional approach in two dimensions by (1) moving from an analysis of participation to one of hours of participation, and (2) broadening the definition of work to include youths household responsibilities. Copyright